Dónal Maguire has been singing and playing in public on and off for thirty years.
Like so many other young Irish kids, Dónal was affected by the charismatic Clancy brothers and their triumphal return to Ireland from the USA, in the early 60s. Whilst admiring Luke Kelly's strident style, Dónal soon became enamoured of the high style exemplified by Joe Heaney, Paddy Tunney and Elizabeth Cronin.
Dónal's emigration to England as a fifteen-year-old paradoxically accelerated his interest in Irish music and culture. The London Singers Workshop helped to develop his singing and he became a resident at the Singers Club, joining Ewan MacColl, Peggy Seeger, John Faulkner, Sandra Kerr, Terry Yarnell et al. Séamus Ennis and A.L. Lloyd had earlier been resident at the club.
While Dónal has been primarily associated with unaccompanied singing, he has significant other 'strings to his bow'. Dónal is a fine interpreter of contemporary material, as well as an excellent singer of traditional material, and can accompany himself on a range of stringed instruments. He is universally recognised as one of the finest players of Irish dance music on mandolin and tenor banjo.
In addition to solo work Dónal sometimes joins forces with other musician friends.
Matt Fahey, John Murphy and Dónal in 2001.
"If you haven't heard this man yet then why the hell not?"
- Dick Gaughan
"Maguire's voice could melt the ice-bound stream of Time." -
Jim Younger
"An open-ended attitude is reflected in the musical settings. Gilded Chains gets it's character from a happy accident: Maguire's new neighbour is the blinding jazz guitarist Mike Walker. The two instantly hit it off. The album is not full-blown jazz-folk, but some jazz textures (from Walker and saxophonist Iain Dixon) are used in a sparing but effective way. Then Maguire will console the purists with an enticing unaccompanied story-song, a form at which he excels." - Manchester Metro
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